Narrator: This is an ancient cooking tool
called a metate.
Women in Mexico have been using it for over 7,000 years
to prepare traditional dishes.
Evangelina Aquino Luis spends hours
grinding chiles and herbs for just one batch of mole.
Mole is a thick, rich sauce that comes in many variations,
contains dozens of ingredients, and can take days to cook.
It's also one of the most popular dishes
in Evangelina's restaurant, La Cocina Nana Vira.
Today, she's preparing a rare kind of mole called chichilo.
But it's not on the menu
because she only makes it for people who are in mourning.
Narrator: Evangelina has dedicated her life
to preserving these kinds of traditions and methods.
But over the years,
she's watched cooks swap metates for blenders.
It even turned to package sauces from the supermarket.
We visited Oaxaca, known as the Land of the Seven Moles,
to see how the ancient ways
of preparing this classic Mexican dish are still standing.
Evangelina buys all ingredients fresh at a local market.
Narrator: Ancho chiles are a kind of dried poblano pepper
that have a smokey flavor.
Narrator: Back at her restaurant,
Evangelina preps the onions, garlic,
and sesame for roasting.
She's part of the Zapotec indigenous group
that's lived in the Oaxaca Valley for thousands of years.
When someone dies,
family usually prepared chichilo together.
Evangelina made this batch, especially for us,
to be able to show the whole process.
She puts the meat to boil in a handmade pot
because the beef will take the longest to cook.
In the state of Oaxaca, there are seven types of mole,
and every family has their own variation on the recipes.
Narrator: Evangelina chars the ingredients
on a clay comal, a smooth griddle,
to bring out the smokey flavors.
The ancho chiles go first on high heat
Narrator: When they get the perfect roast,
she soaks them for about 30 minutes
to rehydrate and soften them.
Evangelina wastes no time.
She roasts everything quickly
since this mole has to be made faster than other kinds, to make it in time for a wake.
The metate has been in Evangelina's family for 46 years.
These grinding stones are carved whole out of a quarry
and they can weigh more than 50 kilos.
Narrator: Some commercial chefs
have switched to blenders to make the process faster,
but Evangelina says that hand crushing the ingredients
makes the paste smoother and helps bring out intense flavors
from the spices.
Narrator: This is the most physically taxing step,
and it can take two hours just to grind the ingredients.
Narrator: Indigenous groups in Meso America
have used the metate to make mole
since the pre-Hispanic time.
It's believed to have originated either here in Oaxaca
or just to the north in what's now known
as the state of Puebla.
The Spanish arrived in the 15th century,
and people started mixing indigenous ingredients, like the native chiles,
with other foods the Spanish brought.
So today's mole is a fusion of pre-Hispanic
and European cuisines.
But the authentic way of making it
has dwindled in popularity.
Pre-made mole paste came on the market in the 1940s.
Blenders became popular in the decades that followed
and they eventually replaced the metate altogether.
Narrator: But Evangelina says traditional mole
still beats out the kind made in a blender.
Narrator: Lard is one of the final ingredients she adds.
She melts it into a pot and adds a ground paste to fry,
then beef broth and corn dough to make the mole thicker.
She stirs until the sauce is the perfect consistency.
Fiesta moles that are served at celebrations
like one called coloradito,
have brighter and sweeter and some even say happier tastes.
But this is a funeral mole,
so it has a more subdued and muted taste.
Evangelina's grandmother taught her how to cook mole
when she was just seven years old.
At 20, she learned how to make chichilo mole
from the women in her community.
Narrator: At first, making chichilo mole
was a heavy task for Evangelina
because it reminded her of loss.
But when she realized she had a chance
to preserve and share her culinary knowledge,
it took on a new meaning.
Narrator: In 2017, she registered the brand Nana Vira,
named after her grandmother.
She exports her mole as well as chocolate to the US
and sells them online.
And Evangelina's work is getting noticed.
This year, her chichilo mole won the award
for the best ceremonial dish,
and another for best decoration
at a traditional food festival in Oaxaca.
A restaurant is open for tourist groups and locals
who want to eat the traditional food.
Narrator: She hopes her children
will fall in love with cooking the same way she has.
And if they do, they have her recipe.
And of course, her metate.